Justice and Mercy

In the trial scene of Merchant of Venice, Shylock wants a pound of flesh from Antonio as a form of revenge but Portia only merely twisted the words in Shylock's bond which is cutting a flesh from Antonio but not dripping a drip of blood. In reality, the true justice in Shylock's case should be the pound of flesh since Antonio did not repay the debt in time. However, Portia gave Shylock the "justice" that he wants which is not true at all. It is unfair to Shylock in this case when Portia twisted the words on the bond. Another example will be the Lockerbie bomber incident, the convict was released because he had terminal prostate cancer. The judge has shown him mercy by freeing him allowing him to spend the last few moments of his life with his family. At the same time he has also served jail for a few years and has also received the appropriate punishment. The judge could have just let him stay in the jail to die but he decided to show mercy and released him since he was already dying. I agree with the verdict. Many people may think that what the Scottish did was wrong as the Lockerbie bomber has killed 270 people and he should not be shown mercy but I feel that what the judge did was right. Since he had already contacted terminal cancer, he would die soon so why not just set him free to spend his remaining time with his family?

There was no true mercy in this scene. At first, Portia appealed to Shylock to show mercy many times but when Shylock rejects all of her appeals, Portia did not show any more mercy to him. When Shylock found out that it was impossible for him to get Antonio’s pound of flesh, he agreed to just take the money and let matters rest. Portia could have just stopped at that stage but she did not and made Shylock give up all his fortune. There was no true mercy shown by Portia. Shylock might not have been killed but making him convert to Christianity was just like killing him. Therefore Portia did not show true mercy to Shylock.
In Merchant of Venice, Portia was able to manipulate law as she used words to turn the tables around and used law to “defeat” Shylock. In the Lockerbie bomber case, the judge was also able to manipulate justice and law by freeing the bomber. The bomber was supposed to be jailed until he die but because he had terminal cancer, the judge used his powers to free him from jail.